Dear Loic,
I was raised in a family where alcoholism is a problem, so for me its
prohibition makes perfect sense and I never questioned it.
>
> This put a real problem for Christian and French people, because :
> - Being Christian, wine is a very important symbol in spiritual
> life (Jesus has changed water in wine in Canaa) and christians are
> supposed to drink wine during the mass (spiritualy considered as
> the blood of the Christ);
Yes, but the Guardian was pretty adamant about Baha'is not taking
communion, insisting that it was tanamount to denying that Christ had
returned. That seems pretty harsh until you remember Paul's words
regarding communion:
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the
Lord's death *till he come.*
(King James Bible, 1 Corinthians)
I might add that in antiquity alcoholic beverages were necessary for
two reasons:
1) It was impossible to preserve fruit juices any other way and they
were needed for their calories.
2) Alcohol purified the water supply. People usually drank alcohol in
a very watered-down form. That was all that was needed to kill the
dangerous microbes. No one knew about boiling water or other methods
at the time.
Nowadays the problems associated with the use of alcohol exceed its
advantages. Over a 100,000 people in our country die from alcohol
related deaths.
> - Being French, wine has a very important rôle in social and
> economic life (it is impossible to imagine a drink with
> colleagues, neighboors, family, friends, without alcohol!)
As does smoking, but it will still kill you.
>
> Speaking about this with some french bahais people, they just
> consider that "as we accept the message of Baha'u'llah, we accept
> the prohibition of alcohol." (most of them were muslims, so they
> don't have this alcoholic culture)
I remember when I was in Germany as a teenager that someone offered me
a drink. When I refused they became insulted and said, "its alright to
have your own personal religion but when it starts interfering with
your social life it is going too far!" I looked at him dumbfounded and
said, "then what good is it?"
> Anyway, I ask about this prohibition because I cannot find for the
> moment the reasons and importance of this, in the writings of
> Baha'u'llah?
The prohibition against alcohol in the Writings of Baha'u'llah is
based on His prohibition on wine:
"Beware lest ye exchange the Wine of God for your own
wine, for it will stupefy your minds, and turn your faces away
from the Countenance of God, the All-Glorious, the Peerless,
the Inaccessible. Approach it not, for it hath been forbidden unto
you by the behest of God, the Exalted, the Almighty."
(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 227)
Both Abdu'l-Baha and the Guardian have interpreted this to mean a
prohibition on all forms of alcohol except for medicinal purposes.
Then I also ask what is the level of the prohibition
> of use of alcohol, compared on one hand with use of drugs, on the
> other hand with use of animal products?
It is the same as with drugs, but there is no prohibition on the use
of animal products. And tobacco, while strongly discouraged, is also
no forbidden.
warmest, Susan
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